


Take My Hand

by pumpkinperson



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fluff, it's just pure fluff my dudes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:27:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24786931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pumpkinperson/pseuds/pumpkinperson
Summary: A Citadel DLC rewrite, where Garrus' tango is something a little bit more soft.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Comments: 8
Kudos: 36





	Take My Hand

**Author's Note:**

> the instrumental i was listening to while writing and the one they're dancing to is [butterfly waltz (piano and violin)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_NF_2ta3Ik)  
> thank you so much for reading and being here ♡

“Garrus, what’s this?”

He stepped through the archway, his clawed boots clicking against the marbled floor of the ballroom, and turned back to look at her. The nervousness he felt crept through his stomach and into his hands, his talons subconsciously picking at the fabric of his glove. He had practiced this so many times, the lines, the steps, the cues, there was no reason for him to be nervous but even so, he couldn't shake the feeling he was going to do something wrong. He needed it to be perfect, because if there was one person who deserved perfect, it was Shepard.

“It’s for you.”

He watched her eyes grow wide, surprise and disbelief melting into wonder and awe as she stepped into the threshold. He watched her gaze linger from the towering walls lined with pillars and golden accents to the crystal chandeliers bathing the empty room in warm, soft light. He watched her still, as she pulled her eyes away from the beautiful sight and returned his own lingering gaze, and he knew there could never be anything as beautiful as she was right then.

As he had planned, gentle music flooded the acoustics of the ballroom. A quiet, slow waltz graced every corner and reverberated back to them, surrounding them with the instrumental. Garrus held a hand out to her, and titled his head, a silent question overcoming the music around them.

_Will you dance with me?_

She smiled, a silent answer, and he almost lost his breath when she did. No matter how many times he made her smile or laugh, it never ceased to amaze him. _He_ did that. She was smiling, she was laughing, she was _happy_ because of _him._

She took his hand and walked towards him, her dress barely floating above the marble. The cloth shifted and rippled against the curve of her waist, pulling away from her legs as she took another step closer to him and rested her hand on his shoulder.

“You know I’m not a very good dancer, right?” she said, her smile drifting into a smirk and her eyes glinting in the warm glow of the light above.

“That’s alright.” _I’ve practiced enough for the both of us._

He carefully placed a hand on her waist, and took the first step. Holding her close dimmed his nerves, although they still settled in the deepest part of his mind and his mandibles shifted in response.

Garrus could feel the muscles in her waist move underneath the satin fabric, as she followed him around the first few steps. It was a simple box step, he took a step forward, she took a step back, he led and she followed, a dynamic unfamiliar to them.

The song played, piano and violin reaching every part of the ballroom, and he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her. As they danced across the marbled floor she became less and less self-conscious; her brow wasn’t furrowed in concentration as it once had been, and the worry faded from her lips as well as her eyes. At first, she had been looking at their feet, trying to map out the steps and the route they were taking, but now she moved as confidently as she did in the warzone. The dynamic had shifted, it was no longer leader and follower, now they were equals. The muscles in her hand moving in unison with his - she knew his next step just like she did when they were in combat.

They had danced the length of the ballroom and Garrus spun her, their hands raised above her head, and she laughed, a sound so carefree and genuine it made his breath hitch, a sound he hadn’t heard in a very, very long time. He watched her, his mandibles flared in a smile, glowing in her happiness.

He committed this moment to memory. The way she twirled and her satin dress caught the warm light of the chandeliers, her eyes shining with happiness that flushed her cheeks and turned her lips. Her hair loose and free and rising above her shoulders, then cascading back down. Her muscles rippling underneath her dress, promising strength and control when she was the most relaxed he had seen her since the invasion. 

She was everything to him, and he knew he was everything to her when she came back to his arms with so much love in her eyes it almost made him forget the next step in the dance.

_I’m so damn lucky._

They could’ve danced forever. They could’ve stayed in the ballroom they had all to themselves and just danced, a home found in each other’s embrace. But as much as Garrus wanted to, there was one thing he wanted to do even more. The nerves that had all but disappeared came back, fluttering in his stomach and his heart thrummed in his ears.

The song was coming to an end, and on the final notes he spun her once more, then twice, before letting her go. She laughed again, so bright and clear, and took the momentum to twirl around the ballroom, closing her eyes and spreading her arms.

He knew her answer. He knew what she would say. Even still, his heart raced even faster as she turned back towards him.

“Thank you, Garr--”

He was kneeling, his hands wrapped around a small box.

She froze, her smile giving way to a look of shock, her lips slightly parted.

“There’s - ah - there’s a lot of movies and books about how to do this in human culture. Some of them have ‘will you marry me?’”

She was still frozen to her spot, rooted to the ground a few feet away.

“Others have ‘will you take my hand in marriage?’ I guess that one's a, um, a more traditional way to ask, if I understand it right. Things get lost in translation, so I might be--”

Garrus interrupted himself. He was going off-script, the lines he had practiced lost to him in the wake of actually being there with her. It felt like he was diving head first into a black hole and prayed to the spirits he would come out okay on the other side.

He looked down at his hands and his mandibles stuttered, the nervousness showing and shaking his subvocals. “Turians don’t have a big culture on things like this - these kinds of things are arranged, usually, and if a turian claims an outside species as their partner, they adapt to their customs, so--”

He felt her hand on his chin, a touch so soft and gentle it barely registered on his plates. He looked up and she was kneeling in front of him, her eyes shimmering. With the lightest pull, she guided him to his feet and stepped closer to him until there was barely a breath between them. Her hand moved from his chin and caressed his scarred mandible, a warm smile dancing on her lips.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, I'll marry you.”

Garrus’ mandibles flared, his eyes wide, almost sure he imagined the words she just said. Then he laughed. He laughed freely and wrapped his arms around her waist, picking her up and spun her around, burying his face in the soft hollow of her neck. She laughed with him, and the sound rang throughout the empty room and he wondered how he could ever doubt her answer.

It was the happiest he had ever been. _She_ did this.

The box was still in his other hand and he gently set her on the ground, holding it out to her. He opened it with a talon, looking down at it. “I saw that they had rings...”

She glanced down at the box in his hand, then back up at him.

“But I also know you’re going to lose it within the first few minutes of combat,” he said. “So... I improvised.”

He pulled out the jewelry inside. It was a necklace, made from the strongest metal he could commission during wartime, with a flattened sapphire-studded ring hanging at the base. It wasn’t conventional, but were they ever?

Her eyes searched his, and he realized why they were shimmering when she blinked. She pulled back the hair from her neck and Garrus put the necklace on her, taking more time than he would’ve thought, his talons getting in the way, but it was okay. There was no rush, not right now.

He wrapped one arm around her waist, and entangled his hand in her hair, pulling her close to him. 

The music started again, the gentle piano and violin filling the ballroom with its sound once more and everything was okay. There was no nervousness, no fear, no thoughts of the days to come.

She laid her arms around his neck and rested her head on his chest. They didn’t dance this time, instead they swayed to the music, holding each other. No steps to follow, no practice beforehand, no wishing for it to be perfect because it already was. It was a small moment of unbreakable happiness in a universe filled with everything but.

They didn’t have to say anything else. They already knew.

_I love you._

_I love you, too._


End file.
